La tejedora de redes

(The netweaver)Book not yet available in English

Summary:

There was a time when a cruel and unfair spell made women invisible. Now, a writer and an illustrator have joined to rescue Ada Byron from oblivion…

Comment:

A poetic autobiography of Ada Byron, a 19th century mathematician considered to be the first computer female programmer. It is a rather complex book, so it is advisable that an adult guides the child through the reading. Ada is a girl whose life is beset by illness but manages to evade from her problems with a powerful imagination and a passion for mathematics: her love for algebra and geometric shapes help her meet the Princess of Parallelograms, with whom she travels up and down the cosmos. She will also visit the land of tales (Snow White, the Little Match Girl, etc.) with Alice, the greatest of Lewis Carroll’s brainchildren. Ada and Alice both stand out for their sharp intellect: they chuckle at each other’s puns and admire their interpretation of scientific reality. The opening lines are memorable indeed: “I’m Ada, no aitch, no wings, no magic wand. The most diverse ailments that you can imagine have afflicted me.” Illness does not scare her, because it is yet another aspect of life to learn. Ada vindicates her humanity boldly. Her fight does not involve any wonderful elements of evasion, even though fantasy itself will eventually open up the doors of knowledge.